The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for automatically supplying mixed fodder into cowsheds; and, more particularly, to a feeder for mixing and feeding fodder, a method and an apparatus for automatically supplying fodder into large cowsheds, provided with a raw material storage tank charged with a raw material for fodder, a feeder for mixing the raw material from the raw material storage tank with coarse fodder into mixed fodder, while moving to a cowshed, sensors for monitoring the movement of the feeder, and a control portion for controlling all parts of the apparatus.
There is a growing tendency for the latest stock farms to be more specialized and get larger in scale to produce a good quality of products, e.g., a good quality of meat or milk from healthy cattle or cow under assistance by the development of stockbreeding technology.
Many of the stock farms breed a number of livestock in such a way that the livestock are firstly classified into a plurality of groups based on, e.g., their milking capacities and the livestock are separately received in a plurality of cowsheds formed by partitioning a large shed, according to the classified group.
The time when fodder is supplied, components of the fodder and an amount of the fodder become important factors for increasing the quality of milk and obtaining good cows or cattle in growth and health.
In the supply of the fodder to the livestock, especially, cows, selecting the component for the fodder and supplying the fodder to the cows have to be more carefully made based on surroundings of the farm, an environmental condition, lifetime of the cows, a capacity of milking of the cows, and the quality of milk.
In most of the stock farms, a mixed fodder is manually prepared by roughly cutting the raw material or coarse fodder into mixed fodder and a worker supplies the mixed fodder into the cowsheds by walking about from place to place. In a larger farm in scale, the supply of the mixed fodder is made using a separate means for movements.
However, the separate transportation means is cumbersome because a driver is necessary to operate or drive the transportation means. Further, if the existing transportation means is used as the movement means for the farms, there are many problems in that the existing transportation means is not specified in the working on the farms and consumes unnecessarily a large amount of gas, thereby even making a smoke pollution caused by its exhaust gas within the cowshed.
Further, since the supply of the mixed fodder to the livestock has to be made periodically, it bothers the worker.
Moreover, it is difficult to adjust the amount of the raw material for the fodder or the coarse fodder and hence the mixed fodder to be fed to the livestock, since the whole works are performed manually, thereby even necessitating a skilled person for those works.
The difficulties in adjusting the amount of the raw material or the coarse fodder cause irregular components or amount of the mixed fodder. Therefore, balanced nutritional feed cannot be supplied to the livestock. As a result, the cows cannot produce a constant amount of milk and a good quality of milk.
In addition, if different amount of the mixed fodder continues to be fed, the number of underdeveloped livestock may be increased.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus for automatically supplying fodder into large cowsheds using a feeder for mixing and feeding the fodder.
The above and other objects of the invention are accomplished by providing a method and apparatus using a feeder for mixing and feeding fodder provided with a mixing means provided with a plurality of rotary screws, a driving mixing motor and a gear box, and a discharge means for raising and lowering doors mounted to both sides of a main body by using cylinder mechanisms, the feeder characterized in that rollers and a movement means constructed with reversible movement motors for rotating the rollers are mounted on a bottom of the main body and a control box is provided in a lateral portion of the main body, whereby the mixing means, a discharge means and the movement means are controlled by the control box.